BET Experience goes beyond the awards show

The Black Entertainment Television network is expanding its annual event into three days of urban-music concerts, wellness seminars, celebrity panels and a film festival at L.A. Live venues downtown next weekend.

Some of the artists performing at the BET experience will be Kendrick Lamar,… (Illustration by Shonagh…)

For nearly two decades the Essence Music Festival has been the premiere destination for black music fans from around the country. Now, BET is hoping to change that.

The Black Entertainment Television network has built a formidable competitor to Essence's event by transforming its own annual award spectacle into a three-day destination festival in Los Angeles.

The BET Experience will kick off June 28 and feature concerts by headliners Beyoncé, Snoop Dogg, Miguel and R. Kelly as well as wellness seminars, celebrity panels, a film festival and, yes, an awards show telecast on June 30. All combined, the event will attract more than 100,000 people to the city, according to the network.

"The BET Awards are like the Super Bowl of black entertainment," said Debra Lee, the network's chairman and chief executive. "It's the biggest thing out there, so we always asked ourselves how we make it bigger and better. [Creating the festival] allowed us to touch many more people than are able to come to the awards."

The location — L.A. Live's multiple venues downtown — is significant given that Southern California has had a limited hold on the urban music market. While the annual Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival has long been a major event for music lovers across several genre lines, festivals dedicated to core urban music listeners have been limited in the Southland to Rock the Bells and Paid Dues, which cater to hip-hop fans.

The BET Experience, more than two years in the making, is a way for the network to expand its highly rated awards show and make L.A. a destination for urban music fans in search of a big ticket event.

"This will be really great [for the network]," said music executive and Grammy-winning songwriter-producer Kerry "Krucial" Brothers. "Essence has been doing this for a while, and BET expanding out definitely helps the brand. The festival gives a renewed factor to the awards show … and this lineup shows how much respect the artists have for BET."

The network signed a deal with Anschutz Entertainment Group in 2012 to launch the event, and promoter Goldenvoice, a division of AEG Live, helped curate a bill of top-tier R&B, soul and hip-hop artists. There are already plans to hold the BET Experience at L.A. Live for at least the next three years.

"It's an amazing thing to see how the BET Awards has evolved over the years," said Snoop Dogg, who will also lead a panel with rapper T.I. and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) on eliminating gun violence. "This year, they are really doing it big with the whole program of events outside of the awards show."

Since its inception in 2001, the BET Awards has routinely been one of the network's highest-rated programs — 2012's attracted 7.4 million viewers — and is one of the few shows of its caliber in which black entertainers take center stage. But eventually the production outgrew its space.

Last April, the network announced it teamed with AEG to move the show from its former home of the Shrine Auditorium to the Nokia Theatre, in the glitzy L.A. Live complex. The festival will be housed at several L.A. Live properties including Club Nokia, Conga Room, the Grammy Museum, J.W. Marriott hotel and the adjacent Staples Center.

"We knew the demand was there," said BET Awards executive producer Stephen Hill. "People were coming to L.A. whether they had a ticket or not. There is an energy around the weekend. This is a great way to throw an envelope around the awards."

What will the BET Experience look like? Staples Center will feature three nights of performances from Beyoncé; Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg, J. Cole and Miguel; and R. Kelly, New Edition and the Jacksons immediately after the BET Awards. The smaller Club Nokia will host comedians Mike Epps, Cedric the Entertainer and a Kirk Franklin-led gospel showcase during the day, and Erykah Badu, the Roots featuring MC Lyte and Too Short will have late-night sets.

Said singer Franklin of the opportunity to perform at the inaugural BET Experience: "This festival is truly like no other. With so many great artists performing, the BET Experience will definitely be a time to celebrate great music."

Beyond the concerts themselves, the festival will include tapings of BET's video countdown show, "106 & Park," in L.A. Live's courtyard, after parties at the Conga Room and a massive free "fan fest" expo at surface lots surrounding the complex.